SO – IL has designed 32 modern, geometrically shaped showcases in bright colours and with ‘pointed tops’. As well as showing off the fifty-plus Meissen objects to best advantage, these vitrines are autonomous works in their own right.

As Florian Idenburg of SO – IL explains, “We wanted to come up with a strategy to help visitors ‘take a fresh look’ at Meissen so that they could understand the pieces in a new way. By using the vitrine to ‘upset’ conventional ways of looking at the works, we force viewers to redefine their relationship with them. Through the organisation of colour, form and material, we seek to reduce the objectness of the individual pieces in order to generate a more fluid and visceral perception. It is about a transition from object to experience, and the power of architecture to act as a mediator in that process.”

The porcelain in the exhibition will be drawn from a number of sources, including the Von Klemperer collection, the Meissen factory collection and various private collections in England and Germany.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a book discussing both the porcelain and the architectural philosophy of SO – IL. Read more on OpenBuildings.